South Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar and his wife, Imelda, were recently indicted by the Department of Justice for bribery, money laundering and conspiracy. Cuellar is also being investigated by the House Ethics Committee.
The Cuellars said they are innocent of all charges.
New reporting by NOTUS took a look into the Cuellar family's dealings in Laredo. TPR's Jerry Clayton recently spoke with one of the authors of the report, Casey Murray, national politics reporter for NOTUS and Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
NOTUS said the Cuellars have not responded to their reporting.
Clayton: For this article, you interviewed more than two dozen local officials, business leaders and residents. And you said that you found basically two versions of the Cuellar family. Tell me about that.
Murray: I basically found that on one hand, Henry Cuellar in particular is really respected in the community because of all the federal dollars he's brought to the area. But when you talk to other sources who have sort of these other experiences with the family, you learn that there's sort of another side.
There's a group of people who feel very differently about them and feel that the family has really misused their control over politics in the region.
Clayton: Let's start with what you found in your reporting about, Martin Cuellar, who is the Webb County sheriff and brother of Henry.
Murray: We basically talked to former employees, and they alleged that he has been using the department to do everything from ask those under him to support the campaigns, not just him, but those of Rosie [his sister] and Henry as well bring out voters and support him financially.
And then we also discovered through our reporting that the FBI has been looking into him.
Clayton: And what were you able to find out about an FBI investigation into Martin Cuellar and the Webb County Sheriff's Department?
Murray: We can't definitively say. The FBI is legendarily tight lipped about these things, but we did uncover that they are looking into him and that others under him have also been investigated.
Clayton: Your investigation also led you to Rosie Cuellar, Henry's sister, in the small town of Rio Bravo. What was that town like?
Murray: It's clearly a very small city that has not been invested in substantially. Some of the obvious signs were crumbling roads. The City Hall building is essentially a warehouse that they have kind of made work. It was definitely an experience to get to go there and see the mayor being sworn in and what is clearly a very small and in tight knit community.
Clayton: What did you learn about Rosie Cuellar there in Rio Bravo?
Murray: We discovered that Rosie was taken on by the city as a municipal judge, but she never heard any cases that they don't have a functioning court. They didn't when she started. And they still don't to this day.
Clayton: As a journalist, what do you think should be the main takeaway from this story about the Cuellar family?
Murray: I think it's really important that people know who their representatives are, and that people know how their local governments function. That's really the root of our story, It’s looking at people who have been democratically elected. How are they using their power? And do their voters want them to be using it that way?
So, I really hope that anyone in the area reads it and is encouraged to take part in the electoral process.
